Improvement in piles for railroad-rails



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

EDWIN D. LYON, JR, OF SANDUSKYQOH'IO, ASSIGNOR OF TWO-THIRDS HIS RIGHTTO F. W. ALVORD AND VOLTARE SCOTT, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN PILES FOR RAILROAD-RAILS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 150,172, dated April28, 1874 application filed March 24, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN D. LYON, J r., of Sandusky, in the county ofErie and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in the Manufacture of Bailroad Rails; and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact descriptionthereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to which itpertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to the manufacture of steel-capped rails; and itconsists in a peculiarly constructed pile or fagot, from which isobtained, by rolling, an iron rail with a steelcap covering the top andsides of the head of the rail, and united thereto by a longitudinaldovetail.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a transverse vertical sectionof the fagot, and Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of thecompleted rail.

I build my pile as follows: B B are two old rails cut the requiredlength of the pile, and placed side by side. A is a rolled piece ofdamper or puddler steel, rolled in the shape shown, so as to fit betweenthe heads of the rails B B, and also on top of the same. Below the steelpiece A, and extending down to the base of the rails B B, is a solidpiece of iron, 0, obtained from the crop end of the rail at the saws;or, in other words, as soon as a rail is made and sawed the requiredlength, I take the crop ends, which generally run over three feet, passthrough a small pair of buttrolls twice, and the piece 0 is made, thussaving reheating to do this. The rails B B rest upon flat pieces D DandE E, which are made from old rails out the required length, placed ina furnace as many as five tons at once, heated to a cherry color, and bythe aid of a small break-down roll the pieces required are producedquickly and at slight cost. The whole rests upon a flange-piece, F,rolled from com mon iron. This pile being carried through the ordinaryprocess, produces a steel-capped rail of the form shown in Fig. 2, Gbeing the rail proper, and H the steel cap covering the top and sides ofthe head of the rail, and united thereto by a dovetail, a, so that theiron firmly clinches the steel, and will hold it secure in spite ofexpansion and contraction. This rail also forms a reversible rail,which, when placed on a curve, and the steel worn on one side, can beturned around and thus perform double service. In the construction ofthe pile, there is an opening, 00, in the middle, which enables the heatto penetrate the pile, and the middle thereby gets hot as quick as theoutside of the pile, whereby a great saving in coal is effected.

As I do not use tops and bottoms, or re heat-ed flats, a very largesaving in labor and material is effected.

The damper-steel A may be made in any rolling-mill without any changebeing made in the puddling-furnace, and at the same price as commonpuddled iron.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- In the manufacture ofsteel-capped rails, the construction of the pile or fagot of cappiece Aof steel or puddled iron rails B B, crop ends 0, flat pieces D D and EE, and flangepiece F, arranged substantially as herein.

shown and described, and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I affix mysignature inpresence of two witnesses.

. EDWIN D. LYON, JR.

Witnesses:

J. TYLER POWELL, J. O. LATHRoP.

